**So I talked to Eric Kripke and he said that I could have Sam and Dean...Oh wait...that was a dream...never mind**

EIGHT

Night had already fallen when Sam and Dean and the trusty Impala rolled into the cemetery. There were giant black gates out front that were locked, as fate would have it, but the brothers weren't worried about that. Dean was actually more worried about leaving his car out front all alone and unprotected while they checked out the inside for...what? They didn't know.

Sam hadn't even told Dean what they were doing there, just that they may find something there. Dead things hung out in cemeteries. They may find their demon. Dean had scoffed, but he figured running the place over with the EMF meter didn't sound like a bad idea.

And so the brothers climbed the fence into the cemetery, Sam armed with a shotgun filled with their favourite condiment, and Dean with his EMF meter in hand, which was still working perfectly despite its beat up exterior, thank you very much.

"Sam," Dean called to his brother as they were sweeping the fourteenth row of tombstones. They'd been silent up until now and hadn't run into anyone, so Dean figured that it was safe to talk.

Sam jogged over and stopped at his brother's side, eyeing the EMF meter, "Did you find something?"

Dean shook his head, "Just wanted to ask you something. Despite Claire, what do you think about Tana?" Sam looked confused, so Dean explained, "I just get the feeling that there's something those sisters aren't telling us about her. Something that we should know, doesn't it feel like there's a piece of the puzzle here that just doesn't fit."

"A lot of them are still missing," Sam responded thoughtfully, "But I think you're right. I think something happened that they don't want us to know about, but I also think that's it a family thing. We don't need to know, it's none of our business."

"The family business is our business now," Dean pointed out, moving on to the next row, "This has everything to do with being elementals and it sounds like that's what this family grew up on, except for Tana. What must that have been like?"

"You think she didn't get enough hugs growing up?"

"It's more than that," Dean snapped, silencing Sam's dark chuckle.

"Alright," Sam held up his hands in defeat, "Maybe something did happen, and I feel bad for her, but what are we supposed to do about it? We don't even know the girl."

Dean was silent as he continued sweeping and finding nothing, but his mind was elsewhere.

"Why do you care so much?" Sam asked softly. He stopped walking and let Dean continue ahead a few steps. After a pause, Dean turned around to face his brother. His serious face was on; his green eyes even looked a little watery, although he'd never cry over it in front of his brother.

"Maybe I know how she feels."

"You were never mute, I mean, I wished you might stop talking but-"

"No one listened," Dean continued, "It's one thing to hear, it's a total other thing to listen to someone."

"What's this about? Dad?"

Dean shook his head and turned around again. This time Sam followed.

"It is, isn't it? It's because you think I was the favourite and now seeing this Tana girl is making you remember all those nasty childhood memories."

Dean whirled on his brother, "You were the favourite! Dad doted on you, I was just the soldier and this isn't about me. It's about the way they're treating Tana. Or the way they treated her."

Sam shook his head in confusion, "They didn't even tell us how they treated her, the most they said was that they weren't nice to her. Every family teases, hell you teased me so much that I wanted to stop talking sometimes too."

At that, Dean looked away, "Well...I'm sorry for that. No one deserves that." A pause. "Amber told me that Tana was really disappointed in herself when she didn't have powers, but more than that, their mother was."

"And you think her mother's disappointment has something to do with this?"

"Maybe, it's just a feeling I got when I talked to her-"

"You talked with Tana?" Sam looked taken aback.

The corners of Dean's mouth turned up in a smile, "I talked to Tana and it was just this feeling I got from her. And, I don't know. You know that saying that's like 'when you lose one sense the other ones get better'?"

"Yeah,"

"I think her eyes speak for her," Dean said and Sam was about to laugh, when he saw the totally serious look on his brother's face, "She knows things. If you would just look at her for a second, look into her eyes and really....listen you'd know what she wanted. Her sisters don't seem to know that."

"And?"

"And, just like no one listened, no one sees her."

Sam took a deep breath and took it all in, "Wow, you've really thought about this."

"It just," Dean paused to think of an appropriate word, "bugs me."

The older Winchester pocketed the EMF meter and gestured around the cemetery in the silence that followed, "There's nothing here. Let's go."

As they walked back to the Impala Dean could tell that Sam was mulling over what he'd said. At least know he knew how Dean felt and that he was serious about it. The look on his face said that he wasn't going to make fun of his older brother anymore.

Just as they were approaching the gate, Sam's face contorted into a look of confusion, "What do you mean despite Claire?"

Dean smirked. He couldn't believe it had taken Sam this long to figure out something he'd said so long ago. He didn't answer for a moment letting Sam take it whichever way he wanted. Then his phone rang in his pocket. The brothers paused at the gates so that Dean could pull it out and look at the caller id. He didn't recognize the number so he flipped it open and adopted an accent.

"Hello?"

"Hi...um...I'm looking for Dean Winchester," came a female voice on the other end.

It sounded familiar, but Dean had to make sure, "Who is this?"

"It's Claire, Claire Martin."

"Ah," Dean dropped the accent, "This is the handsome devil himself. What's up, Claire?"

"Tana's gone."

"What?!"

Sam gave Dean a questioning look, but Dean waved a dismissive hand in his direction. He had to find out what was happening first.

Claire's voice was frantic on the other end, "We were just sitting here in our living room and Tana still hadn't come out of her room. She was being quiet, but she always is. We finally went to check on her and she just wasn't there! The window is open and I found your number on a napkin on her night stand."

"Okay," Dean quickly walked the rest of the way to the gate and motioned for Sam to climb over. His little brother obeyed although he was giving Dean a look the whole time. "Don't move; we'll be right over."

About a half hour later, the Winchesters were back at the Martin house for the third time that day, this time they were in Tana's room. It was small with a single bed, a stool beside it (which Dean assumed was the so-called night stand), a box at the foot of the bed and a dresser opposite.

"How long exactly did you wait before you checked on her?" Dean tried to keep the accusation out of his voice as he said it. The sisters in the room already looked guilty enough.

Claire stammered a little before getting out, "We were sitting in the living room for...well, ever since you left our house-"

Sam cut in suddenly, "You didn't go on the computer?"

Claire gave him a look, like it wasn't the time to be talking about what they did with their free time, "No Sam, I didn't go on the computer. We don't have one. That's why I mentioned internet when we went to the library. Why?"

Sam sighed and brought a hand to his face, "Never mind. It's not important right now."

"Okay," Dean claimed Claire's attention again, "so we don't know how long she's been gone for. And you obviously didn't put up the salt lines. So the demon might have her; he might be holding her ransom."

Rose burst into sobs and Marina threw her arms around her. Amber moved into the huddle and Claire instinctively grabbed for Sam's hand.

"What would the demon want with her?" Claire asked her eyes wide, with confusion on her face, "She doesn't even have a power."

"Maybe he's just trying to piss us off," Amber suggested quietly from the back of the huddle.

Claire shook her head, "That makes no sense. He wants us, he wants our powers, why take her? She's got nothing do to with this."

Dean was annoyed by the tone in Claire's voice. Something about it struck him as if she was more offended that the demon had taken her sister instead of worried.

"Amber's right," Sam looked down at Claire, "even if he wants you, he'll use those you love to get to you. It could be a trap. He wants you to go after her."

"How are we supposed to know where to go?" Marina glanced around the room frantically, edging on panic, "He didn't leave any clues!"

"We'll never see her again," Rose sobbed.

Dean rolled his eyes, but Sam jumped in quickly.

"Or," everyone looked to Sam holding their breaths, "maybe she climbed out the window on her own."

They seemed even more upset over that option even though, in the Winchester's opinion, the thought that she'd left on her own was much better, if not for the fact that she was now probably wandering aimlessly on her own in the dark while there was a demon after her family.

"If that's the case we've got to bring her back before she can wander too far. Any idea where she'd go?" Dean asked, addressing the group of huddling sisters.

All four were silent now, even Rose, who had mascara tears running down her face. They exchanged glances.

Dean had never seen their faces any more guilty. In all the time they'd spent here he knew that they were keeping something from him and his brother, but he never thought that they'd hesitate when their sister was in danger.

"There's something you're not telling us," Dean said angrily and took a few steps forward, crossing his arms over his chest. Sam freed his hand from Claire's and went to stand with his brother, a clear action symbolizing that he was now on Dean's side.

"Tell us or you might not see Tana again," Sam demanded, his face was just as serious as the tone which he used, "If it's important we need to know."

Marina took a deep breath, exchanged one last glance with Amber, who nodded, and then started to speak, but Claire turned and snapped before she could say anything.

"Marina! You will not discuss family matters with these strangers."

Marina looked startled that her older sister would yell at her. It looked like she was going to crack on resolve, but then she stepped forward and looked Claire straight in the eye. Thunder clapped suddenly and Dean jumped.

"These men weren't strangers the moment they started caring about Tana. We made a mistake with her and then it was too late, I won't let that happen again."

Claire's eyes glittered with malice as Marina walked past her to speak directly with the brothers.

Marina took another deep breath, but she couldn't look at them, "There's something you should know about Tana's past; our past."

All the while, a thunderstorm raged outside the open window.